UFOs in the Bible and the Vedas

Baptism of Christ by Aert de Gelder

It is extraordinary how many UFO accounts there are in ancient records and religions – from totally different places, periods of history, cultures and belief systems. Whatever your views on the UFO phenomenon – it is certainly not new. The terminology of some of these archaic accounts may be unfamiliar to us, but, when viewed objectively, the words used are in fact no less primitive than those used in modern times. What, we might wonder, will future generations make of a culture which described extraterrestrial spacecraft as “flying saucers”, or “cigar-shaped objects”?

Below are three extracts from Contacts with the Gods from Space, by Dr. George King with Richard Lawrence, which look at so-called “UFOs” in the Bible, and the Vedas, two highly significant ancient religious works. Please do bear in mind, however, that this is just the tip of the ufological iceberg in terms of how much material there is on this subject in pre-modern literature. There are even mysterious depictions of UFOs in art, in a diverse array of paintings such as the 18th-century ‘Baptism of Christ’ by Aert de Gelder.

UFOs in the Bible

The Annunciation with Emidius, by Carlo Crivelli

The Bible is not completely accurate as an historical document. Numerous scholarly researchers have shown that not only has it been through different translations, but several different scribes have worked on it, some with political motivations of varying kinds, thereby introducing considerable potential for inconsistency. This does not make it worthless – far from it. It is a very valuable document but it cannot be regarded as completely accurate. Everything which follows in this section should be read in the light of this.

The most often quoted account of a biblical UFO occurs in the Book of Ezekiel. This description, which is dated by scholars as occurring in approximately 600 BC, took place when Ezekiel was among the captives in Chaldea by the Chebar River. Ezekiel, Chapter 1, Verse 4, reads as follows:

And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire.

This beautiful description of a UFO continues with what is commonly described as “a close encounter of the third kind”. A close encounter of the first kind is a UFO sighting. This type of close encounter has been reported by hundreds of thousands of people around the world. A close encounter of the second kind includes some kind of physical evidence of a UFO sighting, such as a photograph or some physical substance from the craft. This type of close encounter is much rarer than the first, but there have been photographs taken of extraterrestrial spacecraft. A close encounter of the third kind is a meeting with one or more occupants of UFOs who are visitors from other planets. After studying the abundance of evidence for UFOs there is no doubt in my mind that UFOs do exist and have been seen through the ages in a multitude of different countries and cultures (Note 1). What many people do not realise is that, according to opinion polls, believers in UFOs are in a majority, not a minority, as the media often like to imply.

The important thing about UFOs is not so much the craft itself but the people who man and control these craft. Ezekiel’s account is therefore very revealing. He witnessed four Interplanetary Beings stepping out of this UFO and received information and instructions from them. He referred to them as “living creatures”. Later in the same chapter there is a more detailed description of the spacecraft, which is described as “a wheel in the middle of a wheel” and having “eyes round about them four”. This last description is taken to refer to portholes which have often been seen in UFO sightings. A wheel within a wheel could be an inner superstructure revolving whilst an outer one remains stationary. This type of phenomenon has also been witnessed.

After the exodus of the Jews from Egypt, led by Moses, there are numerous descriptions of UFOs which seem to have often accompanied them. Of course, the scribes writing the Bible did not use the kind of terminology that we use. They would refer to clouds and stars with the properties of high speed movement and flight control, as well as fiery chariots and so on. The following extract from the Book of Exodus, Chapter 13, Verses 21-22 is a typical example:

And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud, to lead them along the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night: He took not away the pillar of cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.

This description of pillars of cloud and fire is very close to the cigar-shaped description of a UFO. In fact I much prefer the Biblical description of a pillar to the far less evocative one of a cigar! In the 20th century we have become more mundane in our descriptive terminology. Compare, for example, “wheel in the middle of a wheel”, with the rather facile term, “flying saucer”.

The Prophet Elijah was taken to heaven in a space vehicle; his follower Elisha was with him at the time and witnessed this, and II Kings, Chapter 2, Verse 11, reads as follows:

And it came to pass, as they (Elijah and Elisha) still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.

Obviously the chariot and horses represent a vehicle to the Biblical scribes and the whirlwind suggests an apparent vortex of energy which is often described in UFO sightings.

The Prophet Zechariah gave a very precise description of a UFO, in Chapter 5,

Verses 1-2:

Then I turned and lifted up mine eyes and looked, and behold, a flying scroll. And he said unto me, “What seest thou?” I answered, I see a flying scroll, the length thereof is 20 cubits, and the breadth thereof 10 cubits.

A scroll, of course, would be a similar shape to the cigar-shaped type of object.

[…]

However, before leaving the Judaic-Christian UFO legacy, I must refer to possibly the most significant and famous biblical sighting of them all, namely, the Star of Bethlehem.

An excerpt from the Book of Matthew, Chapter 2, Verses 9-11, reads as follows:

And, lo, the Star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. When they saw the Star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary, his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him.

It is staggering to think that for centuries it was believed that a star had led the three wise men to a stable in Bethlehem. If a star were to come near enough to this planet, assuming that gravity allowed it to do so in the first place, and then pinpointed a country, never mind a city, never mind a young child in a stable in an inn, there would be a dire cosmic catastrophe. All the laws of science prove that stars cannot possibly do that. No, this was a classic example of a UFO leading three advanced men to a great Interplanetary Master who had been born on this Planet to perform a specific mission.

[…]

UFOs in the Vedas

Artist’s impression of a vimana in ancient India

When you look at other religious scripts you find a very similar pattern of UFO involvement in the spiritual revelations of our history. The Hindu texts known as the Vedas are a good example of this. As with the Holy Bible, there is no guarantee of the complete accuracy of these writings which, in some cases, were passed down for thousands of years orally before being written down at all. There is therefore a definite margin for error and the chronology may have been incorrectly altered along the way.

Texts like the Ramayana use the Sanskrit word, vimana, which means “flying celestial vehicle”. The following is an extract from the Ramayana which is typical of the descriptions of vimanas:

When morning dawned, Rama, taking the vimana Puspaka had sent him by Vivpishand, stood ready to depart. Self-propelled was that car. It was large and finely painted.

In another extract, a vimana is described as follows:

That aerial and excellent vimana, going everywhere at will, is ready for thee. That vimana, resembling a bright cloud in the sky, is in the city of Lanka.

It is interesting to note here the reference to “at will” which suggests a stupendous science involving thought control by the occupants […]. The Vedas, and indeed the Buddhist scripts, have a concept of life throughout the planetary realms. They fully accept the existence of life on other worlds and life on higher spheres as being part of the same belief in universal consciousness.

One Vedic script describes the liberation of a Maharajah (King) named Dhruva from material bondage into high spiritual consciousness. This is often referred to in metaphysical writings as the state of Ascension. This amazing experience, which takes on a cosmic dimension, is described in the Bhagavata Purana, Book 4, Chapter 12, as follows:

As soon as the symptoms of his liberation were manifest, he saw a very beautiful vimana coming down from the sky, as if the brilliant full moon were coming down, illuminating all the ten directions…

He was then picked up by this vimana, or UFO, and the following is a description of his journey:

While Dhruva Maharajah was passing through space, he gradually saw all the planets of the Solar System, and on the path he saw all the demi-gods in their vimanas showering flowers upon him like rain…

Beyond that region, he achieved the transcendental situation of permanent life in the planet where Lord Vishnu lives.

Not only does this description detail a truly beautiful close encounter of the third kind which took place thousands of years ago, it also indicates that it is possible to attain such a high and elevated state of consciousness, that one is liberated from the need to reside on Earth and can go to other worlds for continued existence.

(Note 1: The use of the first person refers to Richard Lawrence, co-author of Contacts with the Gods from Space – the book from which the extracts on this page were taken.)